BOYS
While a track coach will insist that “everything is in the planning,” an attorney might add, “but the devil is in the details.” A little bit of both entered in to the picture at the 2008 Five Star Track and Field Championships, as Flagler-Palm Coast boys track coach David Halliday used a very talented team, his home track advantage, and a twist of fate to clinch his fourth consecutive 5 Star Championship with 203.5 points. The “what ifs” among us might add that one of his biggest scorers was named Lucky.
Spruce Creek accumulated 86 points (to Flagler’s 36) in the field events, including a whopping 47 in the weights--Creek’s Chris Lickfield won both with throws of 51’9 ½” in the shot and a meet record 169’ 2” in the discus--and a combined 27 in the high jump and pole vault.
With the playing of the National Anthem at 5:30, which signaled the start of the finals, Creek coach George Janan began pacing the coach’s box. He was probably mentally counting accumulated points, expected points, and “step up points.” (On a team with the spirit of Spruce Creek’s, it wasn’t just wishful thinking.)
Flagler, as expected, made a strong showing in the sprints. With C.J. Lockhart leading the way--meet records in winning the 200 and 400; 21.63 and 47.80--they accumulated 68 points in the 100-200-400, to SC’s 25. David Howard (14.50 in the highs and 39.81 in the intermediates, both firsts) then led a swarm of Creek hurdlers and Creek took back a bunch of points; 44-17.
“I was looking for a PR,” said Howard, after the 110s. “Low 14. The prelims went okay, even though I slipped out of the blocks. I was looking forward to the finals and (challenging) the meet record from Flagler (Jarius Cooper in 13.85).”
Although Flagler won the opening 4 X 800, it was only worth a net two points toward their score, as Spruce Creek placed second. The 4 X 100, however, was another story. Flagler’s team of Corey Shellings, Jeremy Steward (who won the 100 in 10.99), Rodney Edmond, and Johnney Jones not only won the event in meet record time (42.12), but with Creek finishing three and a half seconds behind, picked up a difference of seven points.
“We’ve been working on this 4 X100 every day for the past three weeks,” explained Jones. “Even if it was an easy week, we would have a hard workout. We finally got it right. We were juiced.”
Ironically, despite the fact that Spruce Creek is a team that has, traditionally, been as rich as Flagler in distance runners, it was the 800, 1600, and 3200 that sunk Creek. On the Friday the meet was scheduled, FPC High School was in session and so its team was on campus. The other eight (all Volusia County) teams, which included Spruce Creek, were on their first day of spring break. At the start of the 1600, three members of Creek’s 5 Star Conference Cross Country Championship team were absent. Alex Frazier--who won a 4:31/9:58 double the week before, was in New York City on an Academy of Finance trip. Ryan Gaines was being interviewed for a scholarship at the University of Virginia. And Chris Moody got stuck in traffic while en route to the meet. As it turned out, Spruce Creek had no scorers in the 1600. You could just picture Janan looking skyward.
Consequently, Flagler scored a whopping 19-0 win over Creek in the event. FPC’s Andrew Earle (4:31.68) just edged a determined Todd Huckabee (4:31.70) at the finish line. Brandon Earle (fourth in 4:43.86) and Willie Williams (fifth in 4:46.24) also scored for FPC.
Although Brandon Earle (10:21.06) led nearly the whole way in the 3200, Chris Moody made it to Flagler in time to stir up the middle finishers in the longest boys’ race of the day. After giving Brandon a chase, he tried to hold off the senior Earle before being overtaken by him (10:25.92), team mate Joe Elsakr (10:27.81) and Deland’s Andrew Epifanio (10:31.75), in a near replay of the 2007 conference XC race, minus Frazier, Gaines, and Chris Rudloff, who didn’t run track for Mainland.
“I was happy,” said Brandon Earle afterwards. “I was surprised that my brother wasn’t with me. Moody pushed me in the middle. I expected him to push a little harder because he was fresh. I came in at 5:06. I thought, ‘Just don’t worry about time, just win the race.’ That’s what wins the meet. We were behind by four coming in to the race. So Halliday told me, ‘We need the first two.’ and I kicked with two to go. 10:21. That’s good after the mile. That’s the first time I ran both.”
The results of the 3200--20 points for FPC and 11 for Creek--catapulted Earle’s team into the lead. The last event was the 4 X 400, and, as Halliday put it, “We’re 10 seconds faster than any team in the area.” Well, actually eight. Spruce Creek never gave up, and finished second in 3:31.08.
Reggie Woods: “I just ran. I was trying to give my team the lead. I guess I was a little angry after the 800 because of the guy from Seabreeze (Kyle Vandoom, who ran a 1:59.68 to Woods’ 2:00.30).”
Mike Hymon: (after a perfect hand off) “I think I was ahead, but not by much. I tried to open the lead. I gave the baton to JJ with--(about forty yards).”
JJ: “We were already in the lead by 13 points. The whole meet we were behind Spruce Creek because of the field events. We wanted to win this race because they were saying ‘Volusia County vs. Flagler County.’ I wasn’t going to let that go down in our house.”
C.J.: “Spruce Creek kept talking--as a team--that they were ahead of us. We kept talking that this is our house. We’re trying to get everyone to place in the state meet and win the 4 X 400.”
And win they did. They won the 4 X 400 in 3:23.75 (just missing the meet record of 3:22.99). They won the meet (with 203.5 points). And they kept their conference streak alive with their fourth title win, all at home.
Other individual winners included (sophomore) Kyle Gaines of Spruce Creek in the pole vault ( a meet record 12’ 0”), Seabreeze’s Jonathan Scott in both the long jump (20’11 ½”), and the high jump (6’2”), and Deltona’s Shane Lewis in the triple jump (44’ 7 ½”). Shane, by the way, is a sophomore.
Footnotes: The meet was scored 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1.…Meet records were quoted from Mile Split.….While second to the meet record pole vault by Gaines, freshman Cory Soard (can you think of a better name for a vaulter?) wasn’t far behind with an 11’6” effort. He and Kenlee Critcher (third with 11’0”) could be a dynasty in the making for FPC… New Smyrna Beach (Volusia County) had only one girl and 13 boys in the results, probably another casualty of the Volusia/Flagler vacation discord. Are we ready to go back to the good old days of having the same vacation? Irregardless of your religion, it is called SPRING BREAK.
Footnotes: The meet was scored 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1.…Meet records were quoted from Mile Split.….While second to the meet record pole vault by Gaines, freshman Cory Soard (can you think of a better name for a vaulter?) wasn’t far behind with an 11’6” effort. He and Kenlee Critcher (third with 11’0”) could be a dynasty in the making for FPC… New Smyrna Beach (Volusia County) had only one girl and 13 boys in the results, probably another casualty of the Volusia/Flagler vacation discord. Are we ready to go back to the good old days of having the same vacation? Irregardless of your religion, it is called SPRING BREAK.
GIRLS
The Spruce Creek girls team scored in every event, with double digits in 12 events, and left little doubt as to the meet’s eventual outcome. Their total, 230.5 points, was nearly twice that of runner-up DeLand.
Leading the Creek scorers was, predictably, junior Amanda Perkins. She took a first lap lead en route to a meet record 5:10.34 in the 1600, placed third in the 800 (won by team mate Brooke Nebel in 2:21.83), and was first again in the 3200 (11:44.05).
“Getting points for my team was the #1 priority.”
Christina King, a senior at Spruce Creek, won both the long (16’5 ¾”) and triple jump (35’ 4 ¼”). Spruce Creek’s other winners were Sarah Clark in the 300 hurdles (48.73), and their 4 X 800 team of Natalie Hanabass, Brittany Comeau, Raksha Ravikumar and Heather Garrow (10:23.24).
Seabreeze’s Miranda Caquias was a triple winner--5’2” in the high jump, 12.45 in the 100 and 25.86 in the 200--in addition to anchoring her team’s 4 X 400 (4th in 4:27.34), contributing a good percentage of their 50 points.
Flagler’s Emily Gabbert vaulted a meet record 9’ 0”, while teammate Hannah Lucien triple jumped 33’11”.
The only girl to break a minute in the 400 was Pine Ridge’s Giovanna Thompson. She also placed second in the 200 (26.61), and ran the first leg in the 4 X 100 (second to Mainland’s 50.06 with a 50.20).
“I didn’t have much strength in the 400 because I just got done with the 4 X 1. I wasn’t really sprinting much in the last 100. I was just striding.”
Thompson is a converted middle distance runner; her best times in the 400 (58), 800 (2:16) and mile (5:15), in addition to her sprint times, make her a threat in virtually every race in which she was entered.
“I ran for AAU. I was at DeLand as a freshman, but I dropped out of the IB program and went to Pine Ridge, where I was zoned.”
Deland’s Ashley Perrin, known to her team as “Amazon,” is a pentathlete in the making. The freshman won the discus in a meet record 107’ 5”, put the shot, and ran a leg on Deland’s winning 4 X 400 team (4:07.63). While her team’s 120 points were overshadowed by the 230 of Spruce Creek, most of DeLand, like the Perrin twins, is comprised of underclassmen. In two years the 5 Star schools could be chasing them, as they are now chasing Spruce Creek.